10. 
<HODODENDRON ARGENTEUM, Zoot. a 
Silvery Rhododendron. 
Tas. IX. 
Arboreum, foliis amplis subcoriaceis obovato-oblongis acutis in petiolum crassum attenuatis planis utrinque glaberrimis subtus argenteis costa 
nervisque prominulis, bracteis deciduis dense sericeis, pedunculis brevibus crassis pubcrulis, calyce brevissimo obscure lobato, corolla 
(inter maximas) alba late campanulata, limbi segmentis breviusculis bilobis, staminibus 10, filamentis glabris, ovarii pubescentis loculis 
subsedecim, stylo flexuoso crasso, stigmate dilatato. 
Mas. Sikkim-Himalaya ; summit of Sinchul, Suradah, and Tonglo, elev. 8,000-10,000 feet. 2%. April. 
A tree thirty feet high: trunks solitary, or two or three together, spreading, branched above, the dark pale, the 
branches leafy at the apex. Leaves very beautiful in the leaf-buds, erect and silky, at first enveloped in large scales, so 
closely imbricated and so large, as to resemble the cones of some species of pine, the outer or lower scales broad and 
coriaceous, glabrous, coloured (reddish-brown), the innermost ones oblong-spathulate, pubescent. When fully developed 
the Zeaves are among the largest of the genus, six inches to a foot long, three to five inches broad, coriaceous, nearly plane, 
glabrous, full green above with parallel rather closely placed nerves, beneath silvery white, with the costa and nerves 
prominent. Petioles short. Bracteas deciduous, densely silky. FVowers two to three inches long, two to two and a half 
inches in diameter, always white. 
In the silvery underside of the foliage, but in nothing else, this resembles 2. arboreum ; while in the much divided limb 
of the corolla, the ten-celled ovary, the stout flexuose style and large stigma, it approaches 2. Falconeri, but only in those 
particulars. The blossoms are only second in size to 2. Dalhousie. On Sinchul, the higher parts of the mountain, at 
from 8,000 to 9,000 feet of elevation, are more or less clothed with it: on Tonglo, as it approaches 10,000, it is suddenly 
replaced by the following species, #2. Hulconert. It seems to be shy of flowering, this season at least (1848) ; for it was 
with difficulty I could procure sufficient specimens to complete my drawing. 
Tas. IX. Rhododendron argenteum. YVig.1. Stamen. 2. Pistil. 3. Section of ovary :—magnified. 
